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Inner World and Outer World

Inner and Outer are the terms that are often being used in the context of spirituality. The other extended terms being used are Inner World and Outer World, Inner Journey and Outer Journey. Some new terms like Inner Engineering and Inner Technology have also been added to this spiritual domain. And all these words create a confusion in the minds of a novice. Let me share my thoughts and insights on this.

Inner Objects and Outer Objects

We exactly stand in the middle and there is this inner space and outer space extended from there. The witness stands exactly in the middle. And in this space there are various objects, the whole space is curved up because of the presence of these objects, and we all interact with these objects in our own different ways. When we interact with our thoughts and emotions it is called an inner world. And when we interact with the whole existence outside and other people it is called an outer world. It is very easy for us to know and interact with outer objects. And it is very difficult to reckon the existence of the inner world and the inner objects. The objects are very very small. They are much more smaller than electrons and protons. The inner world is very subtle. We don’t even believe that such inner world really exists. Our mind space is that inner space. Our mind universe is that inner universe.

Being Mindful of the Objects

Why interaction with the objects? The whole purpose of interaction is for the knowledge and understanding of the world of objects. When I understand the objects of my world, I understand my world and myself. This is the science. The whole purpose of observation is because the observer is the observed. And observation changes the nature of the observer and the observed.

Object and the Subject

The objects have emerged from the subject. The other way of saying is that the subject manifests through the objects. And there is this interaction and collaboration between the two. Why mindfulness? There is a duality of the objects and the subject. The separation of the objects gives rise to a duality. And this duality gives rise to stress and strain. Mindfulness bridges this gap and brings us closer to the subject. And there is a possibility of an experience of unification. And the experience of the non-dual gives us stillness, tranquility and bliss. This is the whole journey of spirituality which is infinitely divided between the outer world and the inner world. And enlightenment bridges this gap and gives us the illumination of unification and oneness

The inner space and outer space is because of the presence of objects. The object is not different from the subject. The separation of the objects from the subject creates duality and gives rise to stress and strain. Mindfulness is a powerful tool and technique that bridges this gap and brings us closer to the subject. And eventually gives us the experience of unification and oneness. And this experience of oneness gives us stillness, tranquility and bliss.

Buddha is not against living. He is definitely against leaving. He is against leaving problems to God to solve them. There is no God the way we perceive God to be. We perceive God to be a super human entity somewhere up in the heaven. There is no such God somewhere up. So he can never come and solve our problems. We always look up and never look in. All the problems in life are our problems and surely it is our responsibility to solve them. We have created them and hence we have to own up the problems to find solutions to solve them. Buddha is in favour of improving our lives. He is for bettering our lives. He is not against life. He is not against love. He is for better life and better love. He is for Enlightened Living. He is for living wisely out of mindfulness. He is for a conscious living. He is not against Dollars. He has reverence for Dhamma and Dollars. He is not against Numbers. He is for Numbers and Nirvana. He is for quality in quantity. He is for a Quantum Consciousness. He is for matter and spirit together. He is for spirit in the matter. Everything is divine and sacred. There is nothing in the existence that is evil or non-sacred. The whole existence is divine.

Then why he left the world? This is a basic question. The only answer is that he was not aware of all this. He was carrying a wrong notion and a wrong understanding because of a wrong spiritual tradition. The tradition was that of renunciation and asceticism. And this was utterly a wrong tradition. This was one reason for his leaving the world. And the second reason was that in his whole life since childhood he was given to know only one side of life, that is, the life of comfort and convenience. He was never shown the other side of life. That is, the life of poverty, hunger and misery. Life is like the two sides of a coin. And the psychology is that if we accept only one side then slowly the other side will start surfacing and attracting. This is a simple psychology. It is a simple psychology of the attraction of the opposite. In the east people have been living in acute poverty and hence an attraction for Technology Leadership and Business Leadership. In the west people have been living in abundant comfort and luxury. And hence an attraction for Spiritual Leadership and Enlightened Leadership.

When we suppress and repress one side, the other side creates a pressure and gains a momentum to assert and surface. This is a simple psychology. We need a new science of holistic living. We need a science of total living. Body and soul are not two different things. Matter and spirit are not two different things. Quantity and quality are not two different things. Hardware and software are not two different things. Dollars and Dhamma are not different things. Number and Nirvana are not two different things. Materialism and spiritualism are not two different ways of living. Therefore, Livelihood and Buddhahood are not antonyms. They are not against each other. They complement and support each other. Buddhahood is nothing but bringing in mindfulness in livelihood. Buddhahood is living with mindfulness. And there is no need to leave anything. There is no need to give up anything. The non-essential things, the unwanted things (wrong ideas, wrong notions, prejudices, preoccupations, wrong perceptions) will automatically be dissolved and disappeared in the process of mindfulness. Mindfulness embeds within two powerful principles. The observer is the observed. This is the first principle. The observation changes the nature of the observer and the observed. This is the second principle. And in the process of mindfulness there is a unification and an experience of oneness. Because the object is not only an object it is a subject too. The object gets transformed into the subject.

The above experience of unification and oneness is not possible in the objective science because of the observer principle. At the heart of science is a duality because of the observer principle. This observer principle always keeps the observer away from the observed. And the difference between the observer and the observed remains infinite.

Let us bring in mindfulness in livelihood and bridge the gap between Livelihood and Buddhahood. They are not two different ways of living. Let us make them as one way of living. Let it be an Enlightened Living. An Enlightened World and an Enlightened Universe is waiting for us

“Mindfulness embeds within two powerful principles. The observer is the observed. This is the first principle. The observation changes the nature of the observer and the observed. This is the second principle. And in the process of mindfulness there is a unification and an experience of oneness. Because the object is not only an object it is a subject too. The object gets transformed into the subject.”

The classical spirituality is on the way to its death bed. It is on the way of being ruined. It is no longer effective. It has no scope. It can neither transform you nor transform the world. What is Classical Spirituality? It is a spirituality that just believes in doing something and not doing another thing. It is more like Mahatma Gandhi’s three monkeys. And what are these three monkeys? One monkey says, “Don’t see evil”. The second monkey says, “Don’t hear evil”. And the third monkey says, “Don’t speak evil”. And if you ask these monkeys as to what is good, bad and evil, they have no idea really. They may have the idea of the good, bad and the evil that is fed from outside. They do not have their own awareness. They do not have their own understanding. They have been fed the definitions of good, bad and evil from outside. The same way we feed the data and programs into the computers. These three monkeys are carrying different ideas and notions of good, bad and evil given to them from outside. Good and bad are relative perspectives. They differ from place to place, person to person and time to time. What is good to me may not be good to you. What is good in India may not be good in the whole world outside. And what is good today may have been bad in the past. For example, Sati (immolation of a widow on the pyre of her husband) was a good thing and a great virtue in the past, and today it is a big social evil and a crime. The kings and rich people in the past had many wives and today it is a bigamy and considered a crime. Long back in China there was this understanding that a woman is like a thing and a toy. She does not have a soul. And, therefore, she can be killed by the husband and that killing was not a crime. And the husband was not punishable. In India in the past a woman was considered a big hurdle on the path of spirituality. And spiritual freedom was considered an almost impossibility to a woman. Jainism even thinks that a woman has to take the birth of a man in her next life in order to attain to Moksha or spiritual freedom. The classical spirituality believes womanhood a curse for Moksha or spiritual freedom. Initially even Buddha did not allow women in his Sangha. And the whole credit goes to Ananda who first convinced Buddha to introduce women in his Sangha. In a Sangha where there were men and women, the women had to observe and follow more vows than men. One thing that was very great of Buddha was that he was not a rigid person. He was a very sensitive and sensible person. The classical spirituality was anti-women and anti-desire. The ancient spirituality was developed, organized and controlled by male chauvinism. These are just few examples to illustrate the point. There are many such beliefs and myths on the path of classical spirituality.

The modern, dynamic and quantum spirituality has to be totally different. I can not impose my ideas and notions of good and bad on the other. I can not get guided and controlled by the ideas and notions of good and bad of the other. For example, to clean the bathrooms and commodes (toilets) of others was a great service and virtue in the eyes of Mahatma Gandhi. And he imposed this notion on his wife and others. And this was not acceptable to his wife. And she followed this out of force and coercion. And she did not do this out of her own heart and soul. It was an imposition and not her own innate understanding that it is a great virtue. How can I impose my values and virtues on the other? The value or a virtue is like the process of flowering and fruition. The seed of value and virtue has to grow in the soil of my own being. You know what the psychology is? The more you tell a person not to do something, he will unconsciously try to do the same thing. Just see the psychology of the children. They do what they are told not to do. Then what is the way? The only way is to introduce one more monkey in the camp of the three monkeys of Mahatma Gandhi. And this monkey is a monkey of Mindfulness and Awareness. This monkey is not against desires. This monkey knows how to transform desires. What is spirituality? It is a way to transform the desire into divinity. This monkey is not against doing anything. This monkey is in favor of doing things with mindfulness and awareness. This monkey knows how to transform the doer in the doing. This monkey is not a male chauvinist. This monkey knows that every human being is a Ardhanarishvara. At one end Shiva says that he is a Ardhanarishvara. And our classical spirituality thinks that it is a domain of only males. Shakti says that she is a Agama and Shiva is a Nigama. This question was asked to Shakti and she answered it this way. Had we asked the same question to Shiva, probably he would have given a similar answer because he strongly believes in Ardhanarishvara.

We either do things or do not do things at three levels. Firstly at the level of the body. Secondly at the level of the mind. And thirdly at the level of the heart. At the level of the heart it is in the state of an emotion. At the level of the mind it is in the state of a thought. And at the level of the body it is in the state of an action. Emotion, thought and action are not three different things. They are just three different manifestations of the same thing. Emotions are subtle. Thoughts are gross. And actions are the grossest. Forget about bad actions, Krishna says that even to think of a bad action is wrong. I can shake my hand with the other person out of friendship. I can hug the other person with my body out of love and friendship. And I can use the same hand and the body to hurt the other person. I can hurt the other person even with my emotions and thoughts. The heart, the mind and the body are just vehicles. They are just carriers of our emotions, thoughts and actions. They are neutral things. They are absolutely not at fault. The false thing is a bad intention. The bad thing is an evil intention. So what is important is contemplation, observation, awareness and witnessing of the emotions, thoughts and actions. The fourth monkey, therefore, can help us to know how to observe and witness our actions. Observation, Mindfulness and Witnessing is a science in itself. J Krishnamurti says that the observer is the observed. What does it mean? If the observed action is that of anger then the observer is angry. If the observed action is that of love and compassion then the observer is loving and compassionate. The observer is the observed is one principle. This principle has been given by J Krishnamurti. Let me give you the second principle. And the second principle is that the observation changes the nature of the observer and the observed. The process of observation removes the impurities in the emotion, thought and action.

The fourth monkey is the monkey of observation, watchfulness, mindfulness and awareness. It will take care of the other three monkeys. You don’t have to worry unnecessarily. The fourth monkey will help you feel wise, think wise, do wise and be wise. Everything will be taken care of automatically, please just be aware of all that you are doing

“These are the four monkeys. One monkey says, “Don’t see evil”. Second monkey says, “Don’t hear evil”. Third monkey says, “Don’t speak evil”. The fourth monkey says, “Don’t just get bogged down by all these emotions and thoughts. You can not close your eyes. You can not close your ears. You can not close your mouth. You can not shut your heart and mind. The heart is full of emotions. The mind is full of thoughts. And that too various types of thoughts. Psychologists and Neurologists say that our mind produces some 50,000 to 70,000 thoughts per day. The mind is in fact a thought producing machine. It can never be shut down. It is shut down only once in life. Yes, you are right. It is shut down completely on death. The only best way is to observe and witness these thoughts. What happens in the process of observation and witnessing eventually is that the mind attains to stillness, stability and equanimity and then it automatically gets control of the thoughts, emotions and actions. And the result is that of a silent and blissful mind.”

What is science? Science is a way to see things as they are and not the way we want to see them. Science is a way to see the whole existence the way it is and not the way we want it to be.

Spirituality is a way to see life as it is and not the way we want it to be. This kind of understanding (“Seeing the reality as it is”) is called “Suchness”. And this suchness is absolutely essential to see the reality as it is. And only this attitude can help us experience “Nothingness” or “Nirvana”. Otherwise, we are only projecting our own perceived reality. If we say the sun and the moon as Gods then we are not seeing the reality as it is. Because the sky above them is holding them all together. And a far bigger law is holding the whole existence together. This way we only become biased and prejudiced. Our eyes and mind become clouded and we then see only a perceived reality or a reality that is imposed on us from outside. No, this is not suchness, this is sickness

Let us see things the way they are and not the way we want them to be. We are not creatures of our destiny. We are creators of our destiny. Let us design our destiny through suchness. Let us remove the sickness. And let us move from sickness to suchness !!

What is the big fuss if Aam Aadmi Party Chief, Arvind Kejriwal, travels in a business class? After all, economy class to business class is a great transition. And “Aam Aadmi” to “Khaas Aadmi” is a great change and transformation. It seems Arvind Kejriwal and AAP are taking the help of a Brand Consultant and Image Consultant. There is a lot of change in the image makeover and brand image of Arvind Kejriwal and AAP. The party chief has moved in the brand makeover of these aspects of the brand: transformed from an ordinary activist to an Aam Aadmi Party Chief, moved from being a simple person to a 49 day Delhi Chief Minister, moved from an ordinary house to a big government bungalow, moved from travelling in a small car to flying in a business class. Arvind Kejriwal is no more only an activist now. He is no more only an anti-corruption crusader. He is now moving in the domain of a Business Leadership. He is trying to strengthen and leverage his brand with Business Leadership and Political Leadership.

Indian resources are becoming very important in the world of business and economy today. Investors and Venture Capitalists from all over the world are finding various ways and means of investing their money in the Indian economy through various ideologies. Money and investment is coming into India from all possible directions and in all domains of the leadership – Business, Social, Political, and Spiritual. The people of India should have a close watch on all these developments. The whole thing should not lead us to the earlier situation of an East India Company coming to India and ruling on us from behind.

The opposition parties are saying that this is a double standard and a camouflage. That he talks one thing and does another thing. That his ideology is not clear. That he talks the language of an Aam Aadmi and then does the actions of a Khaas Aadmi. The Aam Aadmi Party defends this saying that the business class ticket has been sponsored by the sponsors and also Arvind Kejriwal was not feeling well and was not in a position to travel in an economy class. However, Arvind Kejriwal himself has clarified this position while addressing the participants in the seminar in Dubai. He said the dream of AAP is to make every Aam Aadmi be able to travel in a business class.

The most important things in business and politics are of trust and transparency. And while increasing the value of their brands, the Business Leaders and Political Leaders should pay attention to these attributes that go a long way in making their brands stronger and smarter.

Guru and Shishya are two principles or Tatvas that are woven together in our Being. They both are constantly interacting with each other. These two principles or Tatvas are embedded within our own being. Or, our being is made of these two Tatvas. One is asking and the other is answering. One is seeking and the other is giving. One is a Taker and the other is a Giver.

As per Guru Geeta our own Soul is our real Guru. In the beginning it is very difficult to ask a question to your own Guru within. And hence we travel in the outside world from one Guru to the other in various forms. One is, we find Gurus in the mundane world or worldly affairs. They are parents, teachers, bosses, etc. These people are answering our survival requirements and are not able to do justice to our life and death questions. And these people are okay for the worldly affairs and their requirements. And some time later in life a question may arise about the spiritual world. Spiritual world means the world within our own being. It is one’s own inner world. And it has nothing to do with the mundane world. This journey is essentially to know our own center or Self. And this center or Self is our true Guru. This higher principle or Tatva is already sitting in the deepest core of our being. And it is only to be discovered. We have yet not made any attempt to move towards this center. And hence this knowledge is called self-knowledge. And the real experience of this knowledge is called Enlightenment.

We normally do not listen to a living Guru. And we go to dead deities and temples. Why? We have to go deep in our psychology and our past lives. Everybody in the past has deceived and cheated us in the name of a Guru. And ultimately when the end of our life came we found that nothing real has happened and we realized that all the Gurus, Masters, and Leaders have cheated and deceived us. And the whole life has been a waste. And essentially we all are carrying this seed in our subconsciousness. And hence it becomes very difficult to discover a true Guru and trust him. And surrender becomes even more difficult. And all this strengthens our ego center.

The true Guru is one who moves you from your ego-center to your conscious-center. As your conscious center grows, the ego center shrinks. And a moment comes when the ego center dissolves and the conscious center evolves. And the journey of the conscious center becomes infinite. This is that stage when you truely realize your own true self. This is your divine center. This is a center of pure witnessing. Now there is neither a Guru nor a Shishya. The duality (Dvaita) has disappeared. And hence all divisions and conflicts have disappeared. And what is left behind is pure consciousness or Shuddha Chetana or Shuddha Chaitanya. And this is our true Self. This is the end of all. There is no knowledge beyond this. Now there is nothing beyond this. You simply live your life as Shuddha Chetana till your physically body is dissolved in the Panchatatvas. And in the life journey, if any true Shishya comes in your way, you will try to impart him the same self-knowledge or Divine Knowledge.

Kali Yuga means the age of darkness. There are two words: Kali and Yuga. Kali means darkness and Yuga means an age.

We can divide the history of the human civilization depending on the behaviour of people towards other people and the ecosystem in which they are living. The whole existence means God and there is no separate God. And in every thing in the universe there lies God’s presence at the center of the thing. At the center of our being lies the God’s presence called the Atma.

The above age is reckoned on the basis of how much the humanity is closer to the center of their own being. When a larger humanity is closer to the center of their own being, it is called Satya Yuga, the age of truth. The Hindus compare this division of age or Yuga with an example of a chair of four legs. These four legs are nothing but the four major components of our own being – body, mind, heart, and soul. In Satya Yuga or the age of truth the larger humanity was closer to their soul. And hence there was more purity and transparency in their actions. Ethics and morality prevailed at its optimum in all their actions. Then slowly, by and by, this chair of values started falling apart. The first leg fell. And the ethical and moral principles started falling apart. The humanity went away from their own center or the soul. The chair is standing on three legs. The human being is standing on three components, that is, the body, mind and heart but without a soul. This age is called Treta Yuga. That is, an age where the morality and ethics has been reduced to 3/4th of the total value. The individual has started moving away from his own center called the soul.

Then the second leg fell. The chair is now standing on two legs. The soul has fallen and the heart has also fallen. Now there is no emotion and no empathy towards other people and the whole ecosystem. The moral and ethical principles have fallen to 2/4th of the total value. This age is called Dvapar Yuga. Dvapar literally means two legs. The chair is totally imbalanced. The chair is standing only on two legs. We can not sit on this chair. It is totally imbalanced. The human being has further gone away from his center. His being is now standing only on two components, that is, the body and the mind.

Then the third leg also has fallen. The chair is now standing only on one leg. The ethical and moral principles have further fallen. The humanity has gone far away from their own center. It is now living only with the body and without any mind, heart, and soul. This is the darkest age of our times. And this age is called the Kali Yuga. As we further move into time, this darkness will become thicker and thicker. There will be a point of total darkness. And this can be a point of no return. The whole humanity may perish forever. And this is the greatest danger.

Just look at the humanity !! There is every sign that the fourth leg may also be fallen. And this age will be an age of machines – robots and cyborgs. The humanity will reach to a stage where it will start functioning with only an artificial intelligence. The scientists are also talking about creating an artificial consciousness. It will also be very difficult to distinguish between artificial consciousness and real consciousness. And this human being will be without a body, mind, heart, and the soul. This will be an age of total darkness. The only question that will arise: Is there a light at the end of the tunnel? The chances are almost not there. There does not appear to be any possibility of revival. Albert Einstein was one of the greatest scientists. He was once asked this question: What weapons will be used in the Third World War? He said, “I do not know what weapons will be used in the Third World War but I can definitely tell you what weapons will be used in the Fourth World War”. And he said, “Stones and spears”. And I think everything is perfectly moving towards how he has seen the future. The signs and symptoms of Kali Yuga are very simple. Every individual has to ask this basic question. Is he moving closer to his own center or is he moving away from his own center? This a simple test to know in which Yuga or age we all are living.

The above chair of four legs is just a symbol of Principle Centered Leadership. And as the legs fall, the Principle Centered Leadership deteriorates. And the revival becomes a greatest leadership challenge.

The final results of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections have been released by the Election Commission of India. The results were published for the 543 member Lok Sabha by the Election Commission of India on their website.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alone could secure 282 votes. And the final tally of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the alliance that went to the polls together, is 336. These numbers have never been achieved by the party and the alliance in the past. These numbers are historic and set a new benchmarking. The Congress Party could, however, secure only 44 seats. The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) could make the final tally to 59 seats. The other parties together account to 145 seats.

And to form a government any party or formation needs 272 seats.

And finally the “Lotus” blooms !! The miracle of the Narendra Modi (NaMo) leadership is that it has given the BJP a nation-wide sweep and has also increased their vote share to a new mark. The BJP vote share has gone up from 18.8% in 2009 Lok Sabha elections to 31% in 2014 Lok Sabha Elections. On the other hand the Congress’ vote share has decreased from 28.6% to 19.3%.

The people of India have given their verdict and they have also given an opportunity to the BJP and NDA under the leadership of Narendra Modi (NaMo) to bring development and give good governance. And all this has to be proved objectively with enough empirical data and figures. And if the leadership is able to do all this with enough objectivity then nobody can stop NaMo for the second term as PM. Indeed, the challenging times are ahead.

Amartya Sen and Jagdish Bhagwati, world’s two prominent economists have come forward to express their opinion on the kind of economic vision the country should have in the changed political power at the center. Both the economists are India-born Americans. Amartya Sen, however, claims that he still holds Indian citizenship and is also coming to India to cast his vote.

Amartya Sen has his own apprehensions on the Modi-led government. His biggest concern is the safety of the minorities and the issue of secularism. Well, these issues require a deep insight and open debate on a global platform. What do you mean by minororities? What about the Hindu minorities in Bangladesh? What about the Hindu minorities in Pakistan? What about the minority Hindu Kashmiri Pundits who have been deserted from Jammu and Kashmir? What about the minorities in the US and other parts of the globe? A much bigger question is, if you divide the humanity between minority and majority how will you protect the minorities from the majority? The oppression of the minorities will prevail in some form or the other. And this is prevailing for millenia and the whole history is a witness to this stigma. This kind of division is a stigma on the entire humanity. If the whole humanity is divided beween poor and rich then how poverty can be eliminated? Just think !! If you create a pyramid out of a society on these lines then there will only be a conflict in the society in some form or the other. Just look up in the heaven? Do you find a pyramidal structure anywhere in the cosmos? Nowhere. You only find a circular structure among the planets, stars, and galaxies. The pyramidal structure prevails only in the societies. If you want only an economic growth then the pyramidal structure is okay. Then you will have huts alongside skyscrapers. Then you will have poor among the rich and the super-rich. And when the pyramid grows with the economic growth the gap between the rich and the poor, and the gap between the majority and the minority will also grow. So how will you remove the division and the conflict? This needs a different approach altogether. Those who eat only bread and butter have no idea about Jhunka Bhakar. A pyramidal structure is a symbol for prosperity with conflict, and a circular structure is a symbol for prosperity with peace.

In the same way, when you divide the society into different religions, how will you then attain to peaceful coexistence of these religions? This is a far bigger question. And if the religions become vote banks then the problem will further get complicated.

Amartya Sen had come very heavily in July 2013 against Modi. He said at that time that he didn’t want him to become PM because he didn’t have secular credentials. You can read his views and opinions in a TOI news here.

There are always two paths – Prosperity and peace is one path, and Propserity and conflict is another path. And these two paths can never go together. And every society has to choose. The western society has chosen only growth. And as a consequence the society has grown in material abundance but there is no peace. There is conflict alongside growth. There is no peace in the prosperity. On the other hand the eastern society has chosen only peace. And as a consequence there is only poverty. This society looks peaceful on the circumference but it is not true peace. Prosperity is outside and peace is inside. And this requires a continuous balance. And Enlightenment is an art of balance of these two – prosperity and peace. And this is possible at an individual level and collective level, and hence requires different mind-set and a different culture.

Jagdish Bhagwati on the other hand has a faith on Modi-led government. And he is ready to help, guide and advise the Modi-led government in the future. In an interview to TOI he says, “The Gujarat model is not just about creating prosperity. It is also about using the wealth that is created, to increase social spending. Personal social responsibility works in Gujarat. Narendra Modi’s own life, where he dedicated himself to social service, is par excellence the essence of Gujarat’s approach to wealth – create it but avoid self-indulgence. Corporate social responsibility is meaningless if the corporation is making losses.”

Every economic growth model requires a holistic growth model. Economy, Education, Environment, Ecology, and Enlightenment are not five different compartments. They all are different components of a healthy and peaceful society. Prosperity has no meaning without peace, and peace also has no meaning without prosperity. Economy has no meaning if there is no environment to live. Education has no meaning without an ecology to lead a meaningful life. And what will you do with Enlightenment when you don’t have food and clothes? What is therefore needed is a holistic approach in everything. And this is possible with a far bigger vision.

I suggest that the Modi-led government if comes to power, should not only seek expertise from outside but should also seek expertise from inside. In India there are many great economists. India’s economic problems are unique and different, and I don’t think we can bank only on an outside expertise. We should also insource this expertise from within India.

Education, Economy, Environment, Ecology, and Enlightenment are the five major components of a healthy society – a society that is prosperous and peaceful. All these components are inter-related and inter-dependent. The society should aim at seamless integration of all these components. And all the people in the society should continuously strive towards churning these components.

An email written by the principal of St Xavier’s College in Mumbai to all their students and also put-up on the college website has attracted reactions from educationists, students, and politicians. The principal has not only written this email to all students individually but has also put-up the same on the college website. This was available at this link but the same now gives an error. It seems the same has been removed after lot of criticism.

In this article he has criticised the Gujarat Model of Development while praising UPA’s Rojgar Yojana and Food Security Bill. This has attracted nation’s attention, some praising and some criticizing. People from the Congress Party have praised the actions of the principal while the BJP people have criticised the same. The BJP has even complained against the college and the principal to the Election Commission (EC) on the ground that the college is receiving grants from the Government and hence the action of the principal to impose his individual opinion on the students is improper. The biggest question that is being asked is, is it right and proper on the part of the principal, Dr. Frazer Mascarenhas, to influence the minds of the students by his individual opinion?

Let us ask a fundamental question. What is education and what is the purpose of education? There is a Sanskrit phrase which says, Sa Vidya Ya Vimuktaye. On translation it means, education is that which liberates. It means knowledge is that which frees and liberates an individual. Education is not that which binds and bounds. The purpose of education is not to create any kind of bondage and slavery. The cosmos is expanding and accelerating and hence the individual consciousness and collective consciousness also has to expand and accelerate. We can not keep our consciousness static. We have to make our consciousness dynamic. The purpose of an education institution is to sharpen the intelligence of the students. The purpose of the education institution is to give freedom to the students in all these dimensions – physical, intellectual, emotional, psychological, social, economical, and spiritual. The goal is to see that every student is capable of thinking and deciding in his life on his own intelligence. The purpose is to make him a Swayambhu, one who is self-reliant, self-sufficient, and self-fulfilled.

The elders – parents, teachers, etc. can share their experiences with the children and the students but under no circumstance should they impose their opinions. In my opinion what the principal has done is not fatherly, and what the college has done is not saintly. We are not here to massacre the intelligence of the students. And all our actions and efforts should lead us towards “Enlightened Education” and “Enlightened World”.